Korean chipmaker sets up solo booth at 2026 OCP Global Summit in US

New storage device handles files directly, bypassing CPU overhead

Company targets AI data center server market

Visitors examine a demonstration of Fadu's file semantic SSD (FS-SSD), unveiled for the first time globally, at the 2026 OCP Global Summit at the San Jose Convention Center in California. [Fadu]
Visitors examine a demonstration of Fadu's file semantic SSD (FS-SSD), unveiled for the first time globally, at the 2026 OCP Global Summit at the San Jose Convention Center in California. [Fadu]

Fadu announced Thursday that it had unveiled its file semantic SSD (FS-SSD) at the 2026 OCP Global Summit, currently underway in California.

The company set up a dedicated booth at the summit, which opened Monday at the San Jose Convention Center, showcasing new storage technology and key solutions. Fadu has been an OCP member since 2022.

The FS-SSD introduced at the event is a new type of storage in which the solid-state drive directly understands and manages files rather than block addresses. Built on Fadu's sixth-generation SSD controller with file-processing firmware, the device handles file lookup, access-permission checks and file-to-address translation internally — tasks previously handled by a server's CPU and operating system.

As AI inference continues to expand, fast data movement across memory tiers has become increasingly critical. Until now, every time a GPU opened a single file, it had to pass through the CPU and the host file system, creating latency and placing a heavy burden on the processor.

The FS-SSD eliminates that path, allowing accelerators to access storage directly. On the storage server side, it removes the CPU, memory and software layers needed for file services, sharply cutting power consumption and costs to deliver an AI-optimized storage system.

Fadu plans to evolve the FS-SSD into a hostless storage server based on a data processing unit and into a scalable file storage solution. The company also intends to provide reference designs to OEM and ODM partners.

A Gen6 zone inside the booth showcased the performance of the Gen6 controller. A live demonstration using a 16TB SSD based on the Gen6 controller "FC6161" showed performance up to 2.5 times higher than the previous Gen5.

"Today's AI data centers demand a wide range of capabilities — power efficiency, consistent latency, power management and cooling," said Nam Yi-hyun, chief executive of Fadu. "Building on our controller technology, which has earned recognition in global markets, we will use the FS-SSD as a springboard to become a leading company in AI storage solutions."


jeongwan@heraldcorp.com